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	Pope Caught in Row over Who Should Pay for Australia Visit By Paul Larter The Times (United Kingdom) April 21, 2008 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3792430.ece This year's papal visit to Australia is already sorely testing the country's commitment to the virtues of peace and goodwill as politicians and the Roman Catholic Church wrangle over the cost to the taxpayer. World Youth Day, the Catholic celebration that takes place every two or three years, is to be hosted in Sydney this year and is expected to culminate in a gathering of half a million pilgrims. An opposition politician demanded yesterday that the Church Australia's largest property owner should underwrite the A$128 million (61 million) public cost of holding the event. The cost includes A$42 million in compensation to the horse racing industry because a local racecourse has been booked for an overnight vigil and Mass, to be celebrated by Benedict XVI on July 20. The New South Wales Government has also told Sydney-siders, who hosted the Olympic Games in 2000, that unprecedented levels of traffic jams, akin to "a week of New Year's Eves", were expected.
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